As he takes office, Mexico’s president pledges to expand prosperity

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Press office of Enrique Peña Nieto

Outgoing Mexican President Felipe Calderon (left) presented a flag to President-elect Enrique Peña Nieto during the official transfer-of-command ceremony early Saturday at the National Palace in Mexico City. Peña Nieto was sworn in later that day during a ceremony at the National Congress.

MEXICO CITY — Enrique Peña Nieto became the president of Mexico on Saturday and outlined an ambitious plan to transform it into a middle-class society by taking on powerful monopolies and unions and reducing poverty, hunger and violence.

“We are a nation that grows at two speeds,” Peña Nieto said. “Some live in backward conditions and poverty, and others live in development. There are a great number of Mexicans who live day-to-day, worried over the lack of jobs, opportunities — conditions that have damaged the image of Mexico abroad, and we have to transform that Mexico.”

As he spoke, protests against the new government erupted in at least nine states and the capital, where men and women wearing ski masks vandalized businesses and recently renovated landmarks. More than 100 people were arrested.

After taking the oath of office in Congress’ Chamber of Deputies, Peña Nieto addressed the country at the National Palace before a room packed with dignitaries, including Vice President Joe Biden.

Peña Nieto’s inauguration marked the comeback of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, completing a remarkable turnaround following its defeat 12 years ago after seven decades in power.

In his speech, Peña Nieto promised to tackle the ills that he said continue to keep Mexico from achieving its rightful place in the world. He pledged to take on major interest groups by ending patronage in the education system, now controlled by a powerful union, and by opening two new television networks and expanding Internet service, now in the control of mighty telecommunication moguls.

In singling out unions and monopolies, Peña Nieto may be “letting some of the major interest groups know in Mexico they are not above the law,” said Andrew Selee of the Woodrow Wilson Center’s Mexico Institute.

Peña Nieto’s appointment of Emilio Chuayffet as education secretary “may signal the desire to mark limits to the union’s control over parts of the educational system, although it remains to be seen what direction this approach will take,” Selee said.

Peña Nieto called for “clear and precise rules so that anyone who aspires to become, stay and grow as a teacher, director or supervisor can do so based on their work and merit,” he said.

But outside the heavily fortified National Palace, signs of a divided nation were evident. One of the losing candidates in the presidential election, leftist leader Andrés Manuel López Obrador, vowed to discredit the new president, accusing him of winning the election through vote-buying. In the streets just blocks from the ceremony, students and other supporters of López Obrador clashed with police, hurling rocks, Molotov cocktails, sticks, bottle rockets and firecrackers. A garbage truck crashed through a police barricade.

“This is your welcome back, PRI,” one sign read.

Businesses along Reforma Avenue and Juárez Avenue, including a Hilton Hotel and Starbucks, were damaged. Police fired tear gas and rubber-covered metal bullets. Billows of smoke swirled, and sirens flashed. More than 70 people were reported injured.

Among the protesters was a self-described anarchist dressed in black T-shirt and jeans who said his name was Joel Arrellano, 22. “Here you go, PRI. Take that,” he said, heaving a rock toward police. He ran for cover in Alameda Park, which had just reopened following a months-long makeover.

The park, along with historic fine arts palace, the Palacio de Bellas Artes, and Sanborn’s Los Azulejos restaurant and store were vandalized with graffiti. Businesses throughout the downtown area shut down.

Protests were reported in at least nine states, many of them aligned with López Obrador’s movement, known as La Morena. They were a sobering reminder for the PRI that its candidate won with just 38 percent of the vote.

Yet people close to Peña Nieto said the new president embraces the challenges ahead.

“The PRI under Peña Nieto will be much more pragmatic, more results-oriented and less ideological,” said PRI Congressman Javier Treviño, a Harvard-educated politician who served as an adviser to Peña Nieto during the campaign. He referred to the party’s origins in 1929, when it “had to win one state at a time in order to become a national power.”

“We can do that again, but we have to deliver results because society has changed and demands we do so,” Treviño said.

During his hourlong speech, Peña Nieto promised to accelerate economic growth, generate jobs, provide a pension plan for the elderly, and even rebuild railroad lines connecting key cities. He called on Mexicans to coalesce and to become the generation that achieves a national transformation.

“In the life of all nations, few are the opportunities for fundamental change,” he said. “That is my proposal to the nation, to take advantage of this opportunity to take Mexico to the place it deserves. This is Mexico’s moment.”

In a country haunted by the deaths of more than 60,000 people in drug-related violence in the past six years, Peña Nieto pledged to help victims of crime, enact changes to the penal code to combat impunity and restore peace.

“Mexico demands to live in peace. I’m convinced that you don’t fight criminals only with force. It’s unavoidable that the state start a comprehensive effort to reconstruct the social fabric,” he said.

“Our cities, our towns, our roads need to return to spaces of tranquility, in which Mexicans can transit with security, without fear of losing their freedom or life.”

Peña Nieto’s speech underscored the importance of being a “responsible global partner,” but he stopped short of addressing his country’s relationship with the United States, with whom it shares a 2,000-mile border, $500 billion in annual trade, and cultural ties with some 30 million Americans who claim Mexican heritage.

Over the past six years, the U.S. has become the main player in helping Mexico battle organized crime, sending in police trainers, intelligence agents and even sharing a building with Mexican officials to improve cooperation.

The naming of José Antonio Meade Kuribreña, the current finance minister, as foreign minister underscores Peña Nieto’s effort to highlight “throughout the Cabinet economic and competitiveness issues,” said a senior U.S. government official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The expected naming of Eduardo Medina-Mora as the next Mexican ambassador to Washington is another welcome sign for U.S. officials, who worked with the former attorney general during the early stages of the Mérida Initiative, the U.S. aid program designed to help Mexico restore government authority in areas challenged by drug traffickers.

“It’s likely that the U.S.-Mexico relationship will be run by Medina-Mora out of Washington and straight back to Los Pinos,” said a second senior U.S. official, referring to the Mexican president’s residence.

Over the next few months and years, U.S. officials and Mexicans themselves will be watching closely to see just how much the PRI has changed from its old imperious ways. Peña Nieto, 46, who came of age as the country was embracing a more open democracy, has acknowledged that it now has a true separation of branches and a more active civil society with new freedoms.

“As a democratic president, I will respect each and every voice of society. I will preside over an open government that will speak with the truth, seek opinions, listen to its citizens and make the best decisions,” he said. “I will be a president close to the people.”

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